Cheyenne Trussell had everything he wanted working for the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District.

But Trussell, a 1979 graduate of Meridian High School and a member of the Wildcats’ Coastal Big Eight Conference championship football team in 1978, was offered the chance to return to his hometown and take over athletics at his alma mater. Even though he was happy as Starkville High School’s athletic director, the pull of home was too much for Trussell to turn down, and Thursday afternoon, he was introduced as Meridian’s AD in the high school’s multipurpose building. 

“I’m extremely excited to be back in the community that was so instrumental in my personal growth,” Trussell said. “I can’t say thank you enough to (Superintendent Amy) Carter and members of the board, as well as the community for embracing me here today.”

A Southern Miss and Jackson State graduate, Trussell previously served as executive director of student services and activities for the Hattiesburg Public School District and, most recently, as athletic director for the Starkville school district. He will replace Meridian AD Chuck Butler, who is retiring from the position, and his term officially begins July 1.

“Over the years I always kept an eye on my high school, not so much (because I wanted to return) as athletic director, but you want to see the programs do well,” Trussell said. “I did have a talk with Butler and Dr. Carter and my boss in Starkville, and I could just remember the times here in the community. … I couldn’t find rest, even though I had everything that I wanted in Starkville as an athletic director, so I think God did that for me to see my way home. Of course, I still have a lot of family and friends here, so that makes all the difference.”

Meridian football coach John Douglass said he’s excited to have Trussell on board and is also grateful for Butler’s help during Douglass’ first year leading the Wildcats.

“We’re sorry to see (Butler) go, and he was instrumental in me coming here, so I’ll always be grateful to him for that,” Douglass said. “I’ve known Cheyenne for several years, not very closely until maybe the last year or so, but when I found out he was going to be the choice I was extremely excited.”

Like Trussell, Douglass is a graduate of Meridian and said having someone as AD from the Queen City is a big plus since it’s such an important leadership position.

“I think it’s really important,” Douglass said. “There’s no place like home, and there are no other people than people who walked these hallways and played on this field and in that gym and on that baseball field that know what it means more than those people that actually did it. To have a guy who knows where Meridian was and understands where it can be again — and obviously has a track record and plan for getting programs where they’re supposed to be — I couldn’t be happier.”

Meridian girls basketball coach Deneshia Faulkner said she’s looking forward to working with Trussell and is impressed with his track record as an administrator.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about him, and from what I hear, he’s a great guy who is very supportive and really cares about the athletes,” Faulkner said. “I love the fact that he’s from Meridian, so I look forward to working with him.”

Over the past several years, Faulkner has turned the Meridian girls into an MHSAA Class 6A contender, and she said having a supportive AD is instrumental in maintaining a strong sports program.

“It’s crucial,” Faulkner said. “I can’t find the right words to describe how important it really is in terms of building a program. He talked in his press conference about the feeder programs, the junior high programs, and that’s something that’s needed in every sport, and that’s something I’d like to improve in my program to help my program to excel, so it’s good to have someone at the AD level who shares that same vision.”

The immediate focus for Trussell will be meeting with various people to share his vision for Wildcat athletics.

“We’re going to move forward together,” Trussell said. “I can’t wait to meet with the building administrators, because it’s their programs as well. I stress academics. The last four years, all of my varsity sports teams were elected to MHSAA scholarly teams, which simply means they all had a collective GPA of 3.0 or higher. I can’t wait to get with the coaches, because that’s where the rubber meets the road. We won’t reinvent the wheel — things that are going well, we’re going to continue. Things that need to be tweaked, we’ll tweak and move forward. I can’t wait to meet with the student-athletes to stress the academics first, and I can’t wait to meet with our parents and supporters of our booster club. We may have a budget, but it’s not going to be enough to cover all that we need, so we need support from our parents and our business community.”

The Meridian class of 1979 recently had its 40-year reunion, which Trussell attended, and that reminded him of the good times at the school and helped push him toward accepting the AD position, he said. Now that he’s been hired, Trussell said he’s eager to make a positive impact with the school he loves.

“Wildcat blue never leaves, it’s always here within you,” he said. “If you’re a true Wildcat, you’re always a Wildcat.”